SC - Violet Crumbles vs Crunchies

[Brenna]

Ian van Tets (or was it Cairistiona?) wrote:

> Shall we turn the conversation to something slightly more on topic now?

Well, while I'd be happy to get into a thread that doesn't involve hearing
about every single person's opinions on whether they can get Smarties where
they live and whether they're chocolate or baby aspirin candy, and whether they
are  or are not better then M&M's, it seems a shame to spoil everyone _else's_
fun...let's you and I talk about this other thing until others decide to join
us, OK?

> What about unusual cooking methods?  The Anglo-Norman Culinary
> collection refers to cooking in a pot surrounded by slaking lime;  we
> watched a rather fun video a couple of weeks ago which talked at one
> stage of cooking stews in a wooden bucket, the heat provided by means
> of a rock heated in the fire.  Any others?

Yes, on a similar line is the description from my brother-in-law (backed up
also by a video) of modern-day Mongolian herdsmen cooking in a sealed
ten-or-twelve-gallon milk can, using red-hot rocks in a sort of pressure-cooker
effect. They cut up what appeared to be a kid (as in goat, y'unnerstan'), with
wild leeks and kaoliang (sorghum "wine", about 180 proof, or vodka if that's
all they could get), a small amount of water, some dried soup  mix donated by
the American guests, which were considered a fortuitous but not essential
addition to the pot, several red-hot stones, and the lid, which clamps on to
form an airtight seal. The can is then knocked over on its side and a sort of
soccer game is played with it for between 10 and 20 minutes. They open the can
with the aid of a long pole (superheated steam under high pressure not being
something one should stand close to), and dish up their stew, which is both
browned as if roasted but tender as if steamed. There's also a lot of very
rich, but not especially thick, gravy. First the stones are passed around for
good luck (some of them are still glowing a bit, but there's a way to hold them
without serious burns if your touch is light and you don't hold them too long),
followed by the stew, bao bing, which are sesame-topped wheat flatbreads a bit
like South American arepas, which are in turn like small cornmeal tortillas,
only thicker. All washed down with Russian vodka and increasingly rowdy songs
at the campfire.

The Russian vodka actually doesn't surprise me too much; I've been to far too
many Chinese banquets where the beverage of choice for adults is cognac (yay!)
or blended Scotch (boo!), served in water tumblers. Coca-cola is for children
and tea is for dessert ;  ) . In fact, I recall some pretty rowdy singing at
those, too. Hmmm.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com


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